that church for people who don't really like church

Faith-Guest Post by Eric Gibson

Hi, my name is Eric Gibson and I have been at Mosaic for about two years now.

I came from Los Angles, Ca., and once I got to Colorado the first thing we looked for was a church. My former sister in law told us about a church she was listening to online. She told us the pastor (which was pastor Angel and his wife Diane) was coming over to talk and have dinner, and she invited us to join them. It was great! He told us about his church and asked us to check it out.

We lived in Loveland at the time and the church was about a 20-minute drive from our home. It was in the winter, snowing at the time, and I was thinking that’s a long way to go to church! You know, for me to drive and deal with snow in my wheelchair. But, I did go and it was great. The best thing for me was the greeters at the door. The smiles on their faces were so helpful, the hugs, and handshakes were awesome. I felt the word of God was deep to me and I made my mind after the first visit that this is where God wanted me at.

I got involved in the Discovery class to find out more about Mosaic and to find out how I could be a part of the Dream Team. After a while Ray and Caiti, the youth pastors, asked me to be a part of the youth group and of course I said yes because my past is all about the youth.

As a former gang member from L. A. I have been working with the youth for about 25 years. In 1993 I was shot five times in a drive by shooting, leaving me paralyzed from the waist down and using a wheelchair for the rest of my life. So, I felt this was the best fit for me. Working with Ray and Caiti is great and of course the youth also are great. I have been able to share my testimony with them is several ways.

I truly love this group and watching them grow in the word of God has been amazing. Just a few weeks ago I had my good friend Anne Kleehammer donate books to all of our youth. The book is called, Ten Secrets of Overcomers, and it’s about ten great people and how they have overcome some traumatic events that happened in their lives. And yes, I am one of the overcomers who is able to share my true story of triumph. I believe the youth is our future and youth at church is the best way to help them understand the good and bad things of this world. My job, along with Ray and Caiti, is to give them the best understanding that we can from different perspectives, and that is what we do. We have a great time with them every Thursday night at Mosaic at 7:00 pm.

One of the greatest things for me, is when Ray and Caiti went on vacation and asked me to take over the class a few times and trusted me with the group. We had a blast and it gave me time to get to know the youth in a better way. Thank you guys for trusting me with Gods youth!

To me this is what church is about- to help them understand the Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.

The people at Mosaic are the Church, it’s not the building and that’s why I love my church and I will continue work with the youth here. Thank you to Ray and Caiti, Pastor Angel and Diane, and the Dream team for welcoming me into Mosaic.